Amha Selassie was the eldest son of Emperor Haile Selassie, standing in the shadow of his father. The one time that he stepped forth in 1960 apparently to lead a coup against the Emperor, it transpired that he had been forced into an uncharacteristic act of disloyalty with a gun in his back. The Emperor exonerated him completely.
Background
He was born Asfaw Wossen Taffari, in the walled city of Harar, to Dejazmach Tafari Makonnen, then the governor of Harar and future Emperor of Ethiopia, and his wife Menen Asfaw, on 27 July 1916. After his accession his full reign name was His Imperial Majesty Emperor Amha Selassie I, Elect of God, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and King of Kings of Ethiopia.
Education
Educated at court in Addis Ababa and in November 1930, soon after his father became Emperor, was himself declared Heir Apparent and Crown Prince.
Career
He travelled widely in Europe and Egypt and returned to fight as an officer in the army against the Italians when they invaded Ethiopia. On May 2, 1936, after the Italian victory, he accompanied his father and the royal family to exile in England. There he continued his studies at Liverpool University. Back in Khartoum in 1940 he helped his father rally the Ethiopian exiles before the triumphant return to Addis Ababa on May 5, 1941.
He was then made Governor of Wollo province, north of Addis Ababa (where he has a considerable power base), and a lieutenant-general in the Imperial Army; he also became a member of the advisory Crown Council, where he worked to further his father’s policies.
The Crown Prince was used by the Imperial Bodyguard in their attempted coup against the Emperor. They seized power when Haile Selassie was on a state visit to Brazil on December 17, 1960. The Crown Prince with a gun in his back was forced to make a radio broadcast indicting the nepotism and corruption of the regime, though he did not mention his father’s name, and promising to serve the new government on a fixed salary. The coup misfired as the army and air force remained loyal and though many ministers taken as hostages were killed most of the royal family was spared.
On his return the Crown Prince prostrated himself before his father and asked forgiveness for the part he had been forced to play by the rebels.
In February 1973 he had a serious brain haemorrhage and underwent a major operation in a London hospital. Amha Selassie died at the age of 80 on 17 February 1997, after long illnesses, in the US state of Virginia. He had never completely recovered from the massive stroke he experienced in 1973. His body was flown back to Ethiopia and buried in the Imperial family vaults at Holy Trinity Cathedral in Addis Ababa in a huge ceremonial funeral presided over by Patriarch Abune Paulos.
Connections
He was married to Princess Walata Israel Seyoum, great-granddaughter of Emperor Yohannis IV, and had a daughter, Princess Wellete Israel. Following the Italian invasion of Ethiopia in 1936, the Crown Prince and Princess went into exile with the rest of the Imperial family. They separated around 1938, and eventually divorced in 1941.
The Crown Prince married again to Madfariyash Work Ababa, daughter of General Abebe Damtchew who was killed in the war. Their eldest son Prince Zere Yakob is second in line to the throne after his father.
Crown Prince since November 1930.
Honorary military ranks[edit]
Amha Selassie held the following military ranks:
-Field Marshal, Imperial Ethiopian Army
-Admiral of the Fleet, Imperial Ethiopian Navy
-Marshal, Imperial Ethiopian Air Force